‘Cult’ members who ‘wanted to construct own legal system’ jailed for coroner kidnap plot
Four ‘cult’ members have been jailed for plotting to kidnap and falsely imprison a coroner.
Mark Christopher, 59, and Matthew Martin, 47, both from east London, along with married couple Shiza Harper, 45, and Sean Harper, 38, both from South Benfleet, Essex, were convicted in July.
During their trial, Chelmsford Crown Court heard that Lincoln Brookes, senior coroner for Essex, received a series of “very bizarre” letters between March and September 2022, followed by emails stating that “corporal punishment may be administered”.
Mr Brookes described the messages, which claimed to be warrants “for seizure of goods and persons”, as “troubling” and “upsetting”. In one, he said he was accused of “detrimental necromancy”.
He referred the letters to Essex County Council’s fraud detection department.
Sean Harper and his wife Shiza Harper arriving at Chelmsford Crown Court for their trial. File pic: PA
The judge Mr Justice Goss said Mr Brookes was told it was “not a known scam and it was decided to keep an eye on it”.
In March 2023, Christopher sent “further malicious communications” to Mr Brookes.
The judge said that Christopher also hosted an online rally on 17 April 2023 where he “foreshadowed the closing of the coroner’s court and the Southend County Court and the administration of corporal punishment if need be”.
Mr Justice Goss continued: “You told those attending to remember that they were doing this because their country is going to be overtaken by Nazis.”
He added that Christopher warned that the “Nazis” would “kick your door down and mutilate your children for surgery” and those attending therefore had to “whack them to death”.
“The clip ended with you saying you were going to shut down the coroner’s court, administering corporal punishment if need be,” the judge said.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Moment ‘cult’ tries to kidnap coroner
He told the four defendants that they “all attended that rally”.
Three days later the defendants travelled to the coroner’s court in Chelmsford with handcuffs in search of Mr Brookes, but he was not there at the time, Chelmsford Crown Court heard.
The defendants had entered a room where another coroner, Michelle Brown, was conducting documentary inquests, before demanding to know where Mr Brookes was and said they were shutting down the court.
She said that the leader, Christopher, “kept demanding that I find and get Mr Brookes”.
Judge calls Christopher ‘manipulative’
During summing up in the case, Mr Justice Goss told jurors that the defendants were “members of a group called the Federal Postal Court, or Court of the People”.
He added on the day of the attempted kidnap, the four defendants had driven to the court in two vehicles “displaying the emblem of your organisation”.
In sentencing remarks, the judge described Christopher as “manipulative and dishonest”. He said Christopher was the “self-appointed leader” with the title “chief judge of England and all dominions”.
Matthew Martin was given the title ‘sheriff and a coroner’ by the leader of his group. File pic: PA
He added Martin was a “sheriff and a coroner”, Sean Harper a “sheriff” and his wife Shiza Harper a “postal inspector and auditor”.
All three had been “qualified” by Christopher, the court heard.
Coroner ‘regularly has nightmares about incident’
In a victim impact statement read out in court, Mr Brookes said on Monday: “I regularly have nightmares about the incident and the suspects attending my home.”
Mr Brookes said he has had “initial trauma therapy” and is now “hyper vigilant about the safety of my family and myself”.
He said he had been driving to the court, having accompanied a family member to a hospital appointment that morning, when he received a call about what had happened and he turned around.
Mr Brookes said he was warned not to come to the building and was told “these are the people from the letter – they’re coming to get you”.
He said he suffers “flashbacks of the journey home” and at the time “was wondering if the cars around me were following me or trying to beat me to my house”.
Detective Chief Inspector Nathan Hutchinson from Essex Police said: “The ideologies of this group were concerning and they genuinely believed that they had the power to construct their own legal system, threaten others and were above English law.”
He praised staff at the coroner’s court for acting “calmly and rationally during an intimidating and traumatising ordeal”.
In July this year, Martin told Chelmsford Crown Court he was a “man of honour”.
He said: “What I do for a living, what I do every day when I wake up, I deal with state child trafficking.”
He added that it was “nothing to do with terrorism or cult, it’s strictly facts”.
Christopher, of Forest Gate, east London, Martin, of Plaistow, east London, Shiza Harper and Sean Harper, both of South Benfleet, Essex, all denied conspiracy to kidnap and conspiracy to commit false imprisonment, but were all found guilty on both counts following a two-week trial.
Christopher, who was also found guilty of sending threatening letters to Mr Brookes, with intent to cause distress or anxiety, was sentenced to seven years for the conspiracy to kidnap and 18 months for malicious intent, to run concurrently.
The judge said Christopher “lay at the very heart of these offences”.
He said the other three defendants “were prepared to commit offences while doing his bidding”, and jailed them for 30 months each.
All four were also ordered each to pay a £228 surcharge and subjected each to a restraining order, barring them from entering any courthouse in England and Wales without a prior appointment and blocking them from contacting Mr Brookes or Ms Brown.
UK drivers are “confused” by the country’s electric car transition, ministers are being warned.
Although most drivers are not hostile towards electric vehicles (EVs), many are confused about what changes are coming and when, according to new research from the AA.
In a survey of more than 14,000 AA members, 7% thought the government was banning the sale of used petrol and diesel cars.
Around a third thought manual EVs exist, despite them all being automatic.
More than one in five said they would never buy an EV.
The government’s plan for increasing the number of electric vehicles being driven in the UK focuses heavily on increasing the supply of the vehicles.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
What you can do to reach net zero
In 2024, at least 22% of new cars and 10% of new vans sold by each manufacturer in the UK had to be zero-emission, which generally means pure electric.
Each year, those percentages will rise, reaching 80% of new cars and 70% of new vans in 2030.
Manufacturers will face fines of £15,000 per vehicle if electric vehicle sales fall short of 28% of total production this year.
Read more from Sky News:
Survivor reflects on five years on from COVID
At least 12 people injured in shooting in Toronto
By 2035, all new cars and vans will be required to be fully zero emission, according to the Department for Transport.
Second-hand diesel and petrol cars will still be allowed to be sold after this date, and their fuel will still be available.
There are more EVs – but will people buy them?
In February, 25% of new cars were powered purely by battery and in January, they made up 21% of all new cars registered in the UK.
But despite the growth of electric sales, manufacturers continue to warn that the market will not support the growth required to hit government EV targets, and called for consumer incentives and the extension of tax breaks.
The AA suggested the government’s plan focuses on “supply but does little to encourage demand for EVs”.
It called on ministers to co-ordinate a public awareness campaign alongside the motoring industry which directly targets drivers who doubt the viability of EVs.
“Our message to government is more needs to be done to make EVs accessible for everyone,” said Jakob Pfaudler, AA chief executive.
Which? head of consumer rights Sue Davis said: “When it comes to making sustainable choices such as switching to an electric car, our research shows that people are often held back by high costs, complex choices or uncertainty.
“The government needs to provide the right information on electric vehicles and other sustainable choices so that people have the confidence to switch.”
A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “We’re investing over £2.3bn to help industry and consumers make a supported switch to EVs.
“This includes installing a public charge point every 28 minutes, keeping EV incentives in the company car tax regime to 2030, and extending 100% first-year allowances for zero-emission cars for another year.
“Second-hand EVs are also becoming cheaper than ever, with one in three available under £20,000 and 21 brand new models available for less than £30,000.
“We’re seeing growing consumer confidence as a result.”
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports11 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business2 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway